Intellectual property and translation - our approach

We want to make sure that research outputs generated by Wellcome-funded science are translated into practical applications as quickly and effectively as possible.

This is line with our Constitution [PDF 153KB], which states that when funding research 'It is expected that a large part of such research may lead to results that will benefit the life, health and well-being of humankind'.

We define research outputs broadly. They include patentable inventions, software, datasets, designs, materials (such as reagents and cell lines) and know-how.

The following overview applies when our standard grant conditions apply. It does not apply to:

• awards made to companies
• other funding made on bespoke terms by our Innovations division.

In these cases, see the 'Working with Innovations' section.

We expect you to manage your research outputs in a way that will achieve the greatest health benefit. This might involve:

• attempts to achieve patient impact directly – by translating inventions into new drugs or medical devices
• the development and dissemination of new research tools, software and materials, to help the research or translational efforts of others.

The methods used to generate impact from research outputs may also vary. Researchers and their organisations must:

• make their outputs freely available to others (open access), or
• use intellectual property (IP) as a tool to protect and commercialise them.

The method you choose must be based on an assessment of which one will lead to the greatest health benefit.

When we assess grant applications, we look at the steps you've taken to seek health impacts from your previous research. This is as important to us as your publication history.

All applicants and organisations must read our:

• Grant conditions – section 8 (as well as condition 4.8 'Management of the Grant and reporting' for our annual IP reporting requirements)
• IP policy
• Consent and revenue and equity sharing policy.

If your research is likely to generate significant research outputs that will be of value to other researchers and users, you must complete the outputs management plan in your grant application. Read how to complete an outputs management plan for advice on what we're looking for and what factors to consider.

Collaborating with others on your research project

If you plan to collaborate with others on your research project, you must make sure that you comply with grant condition 8.1 in relation to the ownership and protection of IP.

The organisation administering your grant is expected to own all Wellcome-funded IP (apart from copyright in research articles which may be retained by the authors). Limited exceptions are allowed under grant condition 8.2, which enables access to proprietary materials and the background IP of others. In these cases, your organisation must make sure that its dealings with others preserve the ability for the funded research project to deliver public benefits.

Example:

If you're using a proprietary research tool provided by a company, it is acceptable to share research data related to the performance of that tool, and to allow that company to own any incidental improvements to the tool which happen to be made by the researcher while using it. However, all other results and IP generated from the use of the tool should be retained by the funded organisation, so that they can be published and/or commercialised in line with Wellcome’s policies.

Working with others outside academia

We encourage researchers to engage with people outside of academia to increase the impact of their research outputs. However, if this creates a potential conflict of interest, it will need to be managed appropriately.

If you have relationships with industrial partners, you should assess if you have a conflict that will need to be disclosed and managed, in line with our Conflicts of interest policy: Wellcome-funded researchers and commercial organisations. Examples include other (commercially funded) research collaborations or positions as consultants, scientific advisors or directors.

Researchers should immediately tell their research office/technology transfer office about the creation of any significant research outputs (for example, potentially patentable inventions, new software or new materials such as antibodies or cell lines).

Researchers should work closely with their organisation to determine whether to use IP as a tool to commercialise such outputs, or whether to instead make them freely available via open access.

If a significant research output has been created, and you have determined that the commercialisation of IP is the optimal route to deliver health benefit from it, you must comply with our:

• Grant conditions (condition 8.3)
• Consent and revenue and equity sharing policy.

You can use your Wellcome grant to pay for the initial costs of protecting patents and registering designs. After this, your employer is responsible for all additional costs of protecting, maintaining and commercialising that IP throughout its lifetime.

Details of significant research outputs and IP creation must be included in the organisation's annual consolidated IP report to Wellcome. See 'Reporting your IP to Wellcome' for more information.

Getting consent

You no longer need to get our consent before commercialisation. We want to make it quicker and easier for organisations to get on with translating promising scientific discoveries.

This only applies to grants made under our standard grant conditions.

We can withdraw this waiver of consent if organisations fail to meet our requirements. We check this each year when we review each organisation's consolidated IP report. If we withdraw the waiver, all future IP transactions by the organisation will need our prior written consent, until we feel comfortable enough with their activities to reintroduce the waiver.

Transactions

Any IP transactions must be consistent with our guidance on commercialisation agreements. In particular, the driving factor in the negotiation of any such agreement should be maximising public benefit via the potential for health impact, not revenue generation.

We particularly encourage organisations to include provisions in commercialisation agreements for equitable access for low- and middle-income countries, where appropriate. 

All new transactions related to Wellcome-funded IP must be included in the organisation's annual consolidated IP report to Wellcome.

Our revenue and equity share

We apply a simple flat rate of 25% revenue and equity share for commercialisation of outputs resulting from our standard grants.

Our equity share is typically held by the relevant organisation and then treated as revenue when the organisation sells our shares along with its own.

Wellcome supports science to improve health, not to generate a financial return. However, we have a legal obligation to make sure that our funding is used for charitable purposes, not to financially benefit individuals or companies.

In the past, we met this obligation by taking our share of any revenues or equity generated when Wellcome-funded IP was commercialised, and then reinvested it for the public good. But we want to provide greater support to the translation of IP, and to recognise and reward those organisations that do so. Under our new arrangements, any university that generates revenues from translation can apply to keep our share to support future translational activities in their organisation, or to support equitable access.

For 2018:

• a total of £560,726 was reported to us as Wellcome’s revenue share
• a total of £487,045 was the subject of a retention request
• 98.9% was retained for investment into new translational activity, following assessment by Wellcome.

Your organisation is responsible for reporting IP creation and its subsequent sharing (open access) or its commercialisation to Wellcome, not individual researchers (Grant Condition 4.8). However, we expect researchers to work with their organisations to do so by keeping them updated on the creation of significant research outputs and their plans for using them.

Your organisation must complete and submit a Consolidated IP and commercialisation report. This must be submitted by the end of February each year.

The report should cover all IP-related activity for the previous 12 months.

It must be completed even if only to report that no IP-related activities have happened.

Your organisation must also complete Appendix 2 of that report – Our Revenue and Equity Sharing Agreement – if the organisation has entered into one or more commercialisation agreements related to Wellcome-funded IP in the year covered by the report.

Chris to talk to Innovations. Text to be added here.

We produced a set of collective commitments to translation with the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2017. Following this initiative, we revised our policies, grant conditions and supporting documents relating to IP and translation, to help Wellcome funded researchers and organisations, and to support and reward translation.

Contact Grants Helpdesk about:

• how to complete your grant application, including questions on outputs management plans
• how to comply with our IP policy.

Contact Innovations Operations about:

• how to complete and submit your IP report
• how to calculate revenue/equity share
• Innovations awards.